Tuvalu: composting toilets help conserve water and boost livelihoods in Pacific islands

This new film shows how composting toilets are helping to address the serious water issues facing Tuvalu.

The tiny Pacific island nation of just 10,500 inhabitants, recently experienced a devastating drought. Existing septic tank systems are polluting the groundwater and destroying the reefs in lagoons, forcing fishermen to spend more on fuel to travel further away to catch fish.

The Global Environment Facility supported Pacific Integrated Water Resources Management project (GEF Pacific IWRM) is working to address these problems by installing composting toilets on the main island of Funafuti. Composting toilets use almost no water and produce compost that so families can plant their own vegetables, making them less dependent on expensive food imports.

Getting people to adopt composting toilets was difficult, admits Pisi Seleganiu, project manager for Tuvalu’s GEF Pacific IWRM demonstration project, but that once people understood the benefits, demand for the toilets increased.

“Of course when you talk about new toilet technology, people are concerned about whether or not they smell, if the compost is safe and if they are easy to maintain,” Mr Seleganiu explained. “But the GEF Pacific IWRM demonstration project held workshops, ran awareness campaigns, and have so far constructed 29 demonstration toilets out of a planned 40. People now want these toilets and we have co-financing to construct another 60, so 100 all up.”

The project in Tuvalu has generated a lot of interest around the Pacific. Tonga has built demonstration toilets, Nauru has installed them in schools and the Marshall Islands are planning construction soon, the project web site says.

The GEF Pacific IWRM project is managing 13 national demonstration projects in 12 Pacific countries. It is being executed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Applied Geoscience and Technology Division (SOPAC), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

While the findings of the new WHO report on WASH in healthcare facilities are indeed grim (and might I actually add that there are so many limitations to the current data presented in the report that conditions are most likely a lot worse than reported) I am very excited that this report has come to light. All data in the report is secondary - meaning it […]

Hi Elisabeth, Of course - I currently work for WaterAid as a policy officer (health / monitoring and accountability). One of the projects I am currently working on involves working collaboratively with the WASH and NTD sectors to develop joint indicators for monitoring. My passion for WASH and health, and specifically integration with NTDs stems from my MSc […]

Composting is commonly used as an effective means of stabilizing wastewater biosolids and reducing pathogens to very low concentrations. However, it has been shown that under certain conditions Salmonella can regrow in previously composted biosolids. Growth of seeded Salmonella typhimurium in composted biosolids ranging from two weeks to two years maturity w […]

Hi Joe, What studies did you read? Why would anyone expect the finished ''biosolids'' (which are almost indistinguishable from soil) to become sterile? What would pathogenic microbes adapted to living in water without oxygen in our guts have to do in a pile of dry soil? Plus it is obvious that if there is new fecal contamination, the prev […]

We're happy to announce our new seminars to you: Attention! Please note that all the following seminars will be conducted in German only! San ABC plus The next Seminar is an advanced training which aims to deepen the knowledge of the participants on sustainable sanitation in the context of development cooperation. The training will take place Aachen fro […]

The Africa APPG together with Polygeia seeks to explore the lessons from the Ebola crisis for community-led health systems strengthening through examining the current response to the Ebola crisis, and gathering evidence from experts and the affected communities in West Africa.

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The CLTS Knowledge Hub is hosting a webinar on Participatory Design Development for Sanitation on Thursday 26th March 2015 at 10am GMT. Ben Cole will be discussing his experiences in applying participatory design to accompany and extend Malawi’s national CLTS program since 2012